Headlines
SDP Distances Self from Spokesperson over Comment on Tinubu
The National Publicity Secretary of the Social Democratic Party, Rufus Aiyenigba, has urged the public to disregard Alfa Mohammed who is laying claim to the position he occupies in the party.
This was after Mohammed issued a statement saying majority leaders of the SDP would have supported the presidential candidate of the All Progressives Congress, Asiwaju Bola Tinubu. to become the party’s presidential standard bearer.
Mohammed had said, “I would not be surprised if the largest body of the SDP decides in near future to adopt Tinubu for president and thus cause further division in the party, especially if the court fails to determine which of the SDP factions is authentic shortly.”
But Aiyenigba, in a statement obtained by The PUNCH on Monday, urged the public to disregard the statement issued by Mohammed, saying he ceased being a member of the SDP in 2019.
He said, “My distinguished partners, this serves to draw your attention to the need to kindly disregard the foregoing statement and its author. I
“It is nothing but an attention-seeking shenanigan on the part of Alhaji Alfa Mohammed the writer, who not only lacks the authority to issue the statement, but is not known to our great party, and INEC the regulatory body of political parties in Nigeria as a national officer of the party.
“The truth of the matter is that he ceased being a member of the SDP in 2019. The general public is, therefore, advised to disregard him.”
The first hostages freed from Gaza under a long-awaited ceasefire agreement are back in Israel. The news sparked jubilant scenes in Tel Aviv where large crowds gathered ahead of their release.
The three freed Israeli hostages – the first of 33 to be released over the next six weeks – are Romi Gonen, Doron Steinbrecher and Emily Damari. They are said to be in good health and are receiving treatment at a medical center in Tel Aviv.
In exchange, 90 Palestinian prisoners and detainees are set to be released by Israel from Ofer Prison in the occupied West Bank.
The Israeli military withdrew from several locations in southern and northern Gaza after the truce began earlier on Sunday, an Israeli military official told CNN.
Displaced Gazans have started returning to their homes, while the aid trucks laden with much-needed supplies have crossed into Gaza. Here’s what we know about how the ceasefire deal will work.
Hamas, despite suffering devastating losses, is framing the Gaza ceasefire agreement as a victory for itself, and a failure for Israel.
One of Hamas’ main goals for taking some 250 people during its brazen October 7, 2023, attack on Israel was to secure the release of Palestinian prisoners held in Israeli jails. As Israel pounded Gaza in response, Hamas vowed not to return the hostages until Israel withdrew its forces from the enclave, permanently ended the war, and allowed for rebuilding.
Source: CNN
The leader of UK’s Conservative Party, Kemi Badenoch, has said she doesn’t want Britain to be like Nigeria that is plagued by “terrible governments.”
Speaking on Thursday at an event organised by Onward, a British think tank producing research on economic and social issues, Badenoch expressed fears that Britain may become like Nigeria if the system is not reformed.
“And why does this matter so much to me? It’s because I know what it is like to have something and then to lose it,” Badenoch told the audience.
“I don’t want Britain to lose what it has.
“I grew up in a poor country and watched my relatively wealthy family become poorer and poorer, despite working harder and harder as their money disappeared with inflation.
“I came back to the UK aged 16 with my father’s last £100 in the hope of a better life.
“So I have lived with the consequences of terrible governments that destroy lives, and I never, ever want it to happen here.”
Badenoch has been in the news of late after she dissociated herself from Nigeria, saying she has nothing to do with the Islamic northern region.
She also accused the Nigeria Police of robbing citizens instead of protecting them.
She said: “My experience with the Nigeria Police was very negative. Coming to the UK, my experience with the British Police was very positive.
“The police in Nigeria will rob us (laughter). When people say I have this bad experience with the police because I’m black, I say well…I remember the police stole my brother’s shoe and his watch.”
